The Fall
by blunkraft96
Summary: In the final battle against Madara, Naruto absorbed Madara's life force, granting him the eldest Uchiha's power and other things. Naruto has saved the ninja world, however due to decisions he couldn't predict, he is now on a crash course with his altered destiny. This time he won't be saving a friend. No this time Naruto has to save himself before its too late.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

After Madara's revival Naruto decided to go and confront the Uchiha by himself. Many shinobi tried to stop him, or go and help him in fight.

The one, that wanted go with blond Uzumaki was his teammate from the very first team seven – Uchiha Sasuke. But Naruto was to stubborn to listen to anyone. He was pissed at Madara for many reasons. He blamed him for death of countless people, including his parents. After all, it was because of Madara, that Obito summoned the Kyūbi to destroy Konoha on the day he was born. He blamed him for tainting Obito's mind with his insane plans. He wanted to kick his ass so badly, to make him suffer. Even after Nagato destroyed Konoha, Naruto wasn't as mad as now.

He decided to fight Madara alone, reasoning that any other people would just get caught in a crossfire, if they would go with him. So he used **kage bunshin** to sneak up on Sasuke and knock him out from behind with quick chop to the neck. Sasuke didn't expect such a thing from Naruto, so he wasn't on guard. He didn't notice the clone, until it was too late. After knocking his friend out, Naruto simply took off without another word. When Sasuke regained his consciousness, The orange clad shinobi was gone already. With his use of bijū cloak, he was to fast to follow, so nobody really tried to go after him.

Everyone thought about Kyūbi jinchūriki with worry. After all, he did the most fighting and was rather tired. And now he decided to go alone after the madman himself.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" – Asked Sakura. "That idiot was as stubborn as always. Going after that man alone, just like the situation when Pein destroyed Konoha. That's insane, he is totally exhausted. And we all have seen that Madara could control Obito with ease, so there is no telling what he will do with Naruto."

"We have to believe in him, Sakura – san. Naruto – kun is stronger then anyone. He won't give up until he wins, I'm sure of it." – Hinata immediately replied.

"She's right Sakura." – Tsunade joined their conversation – "I know that Gaki long enough to tell that nothing is going to stop him. There is no way in hell that Madara wins. He doesn't know who he's dealing with. If anyone is able to stop that bastard, it's Naruto. Now all we can do is wait. Come with me Sakura, we have wounded people to help."

"Hai, Tsunade – shishou!"

And two best medics in whole Elemental Nations started healing battered and bruised shinobi.

* * *

Two hours after Naruto left ,the earth suddenly started to shake. People started panicking and some of them screamed that Madara was after them. Then giant statue with kanji for "king" on its forehead and Rinnegan eyes appeared from the ground. Some people already knew what was going to happen. The statue opened its mouth, and started spitting countless beams of green light. Some shinobi from Konoha thought it was déjà vu. Just like after Pein's attack, those who died were being revived. Hinata had tears in her lavender eyes, when she saw that her cousin Neji was alive again.

"_Neji – niisan! That means Naruto – kun really did it! He really defeated Madara!"_ – she thought happily.

After few more minutes the jutsu ended and King of Hell disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Everyone was waiting for their hero to come back. After another hour or so they could see two figures appear on the horizon. One of them had silver, defying gravity hair, the other one was blond. There was no mistaking, Kakashi was back with bruised and extremely tired looking Naruto.

"I did it…" – Naruto mumbled tiredly.

"BAKA NARUTO!" – Yelled Sakura, and punched him in the head rather hard."What were you thinking you Idiot?! Going after Madara like this? You could take Sasuke – kun with you, he was willing to help you. Everyone was worried about you, especially Hinata. But it was just like you… Always playing freaking hero…"

"Ouch, Sakura – chan, you don't have to hit me –ttebayo! I'm alive and well…" Before Sakura could hit him again, Hinata decided to save him.

"Naruto – kun, I knew you could do this. I believed in you this whole time. I'm so glad that you're allright. If you died… I don't even want to think about it. But thanks to you Neji – niisan is alive again."

She looked at him with puffy, but somehow happy eyes.

"Thanks Hinata, that means to me a lot." – He replied with his trademark foxy grin. – "You also did well. You're really strong Hinata! And you even healed my shoulder when I needed!"

"Arigatou, Naruto – kun" Hinata blushed, but retained eye contact with him. Before the war it could be different. She would probably faint, or at least turn her head away from him, to not look him in the eye. But now Hinata really has changed. She was no longer that shy and timid girl. She could be proud of herself. And she really was. On top of that, Naruto was praising her in front of everyone, including his childhood crush, Sakura.

Everyone was cheering for their hero. Well, everyone who still had strength to do so. Even Kurama couldn't deny that Naruto did great job. He also knew the whole truth, about what happened after the battle with Madara. Something that his host wasn't eager to tell anyone. At least not yet…

_**"You woułd be proud of him, Rikudō – jiji. He really is the one you were talking about. Im sure he will use**__**IT**_ _**well when the time comes." **_The giant Kitsune thought with a small smile.

"Hn… You know that we will have rematch sometime in the future. Usuratonkachi…" Guess who said that.

"Anytime Sasuke – teme! I can kick your ass right here and right now!" Shouted the foxy blond.

"Naruto, Sasuke – kun, stop it right now…" Sakura said threateningly.

Naruto knew it wasn't wise to piss of her. Hell, even Sasuke shivered slightly. After all, Sakura could destroy a building with her fist. He wasn't going to test her strength on his face. Even if he was really angry, that Naruto used such a cheap trick, and then left him behind.

Naruto wanted to see his other friends, but he suddenly started to feel dizzy. Right now it was one of this rare situations when even stamina freak like Naruto was on his last legs. So his world went all black and he lost consciousness. His last thought was:

_"I did it! Now finally I can become Hokage."_

"Gaaahh, that's it! I'm gonna snap! Whole library and not even one stupid scroll about wind jutsu!" Naruto yelled frustrated, forgetting that he's still in a library.

"Shhh! You're supposed to be quiet! This is library, not some kind of yelling contest." Librarian scolded him.

"Sorry…" He said, while rubbing back of his head sheepishly. He was disappointed. After Asuma and Danzō died, he's the only wind user in Konoha. And during Nagato's attack the few wind jutsu scrolls that were in a library, were simply destroyed… That meant Naruto couldn't learn any wind based attack, unless Gaara agrees to send him some scrolls from Suna. So with a frown on his face, blond Uzumaki decided to leave. It was still early, and he decided to stroll through the village. Maybe some ramen would change his foul mood, even if only for a little.

Unbeknownst to him, Sasuke also decided to go on a walk around. He was still thinking, why Naruto asked him that question about Itachi's eyes. And lack of knowledge was something, that unnerved him. Unable to find an answer, he left his house to clear his mind. Little did he know, that he'll find perfect opportunity to get what he wants. After few minutes of walking he spotted his former teammate sitting on a nearby bench and frowning. It was very unusual to see Naruto with serious look on his face, instead of that stupid shit eating grin. Last Uchiha decided to approach his friend, maybe he could force him to spill some beans.

"Oi, Usuratonkachi. What's with that look? Did someone burn your favourite ramen stand or something?" He asked with his trademark face expression, while sitting next to the blonde shinobi.

"Hey Sasuke-teme. It's nothing really!" Naruto replied, his frown immediately changed to one of his stupid smiles, however Sasuke wasn't fooled.

"Geez, Naruto. Just say it. I know that you're hiding something. You're not the type to walk around scowling. So just spill it." Raven haired teen replied annoyed.

"Gaah, fine! It's just that I was in a library. I tried to find some scrolls with wind techniques, because wind is my primary affinity and I wanted to learn some other elemental jutsu."

Naruto explained, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow, thinking about blondes words. It was very un-Naruto-ish to go to the library. Everyone knows that Naruto hates reading.

"But guess what? There aren't any wind scrolls in this damn library, everything was destroyed during Pein's attack, and now I'm the only wind user in Konoha. I'm seriously thinking of bringing Nagato back to life, only to kill him again for destroying my chance to learn something useful." Naruto ranted. Meanwhile Sasuke found a way to use this situation for his advantage.

"Hn, wind technique you say? I think I might be able to help you a little. But not for free of course." He said with a smirk.

"Really? That's great, just tell me what do you want from me!" Naruto's mood did a 180 in a millisecond and Sasuke's eyes gained an evil glint. _"He took the bait."_

"Here is the deal. I can give you a scroll with a jutsu or two, that I managed to copy from Danzō during our fight. In return I want you to tell me something. How does it sound to you?"

"Something smells fishy here. Don't you thnk the price is a little to low? What do you want me to tell you Sasuke?" Naruto asked suspiciously and Sasuke inwardly cursed his luck. Naruto is usually a careless idiot, and yet right now he has to show some intelligence. Sasuke decided to tell the truth, hoping that Naruto will agree.

"I want you to tell me why were you so curious about how do I feel about having Itachi's eyes. I doubt it was simply out of curiosity, you were too serious about it. As I said earlier, I know you're hiding something. Something happened to you during your fight with Madara, am I right?" Sasuke asked and Naruto tensed, which confirmed Sasuke's statement. Inside blondes head Kurama decided to give Naruto some advice.

**"Just tell him Naruto. You'll have to spill it someday, so might as well do it now? The sooner you tell it to someone, the better. Later it'll be a lot harder."**Kurama tried to convince his host. **"Besides, you'll gain new technique without waiting for Gaara's help."**

_"Fine, I'll do it. Even if only for those jutsu." _Was young sage's reply.

"O.K. Sasuke, I'll show you why I asked you about Itachi's eyes. But promise me that you wont tell anyone. And please don't ask about the details. I'm not ready to talk about it yet." Naruto finally gave in.

"Good. I'll come to your apartment today around 6 pm. I'll need some time to write the jutsu down in a scroll." Sasuke said and went back in the direction of his house, clearly satisfied. Naruto on the other hand decided to go grab some ramen from Ichiraku's. After all, he went to Hokage Tower without breakfast and was rather hungry. Maybe after some ramen he'll go check how are his clones doing in their chakra control training. With lazy bunshins you can never be too careful.

* * *

After eating 12 bowls of ramen and checking on his lazy doppelgangers, Naruto returned to his home. On his way back, he bumped into Konohamaru, who congratulated him getting promoted, and asked if Naruto could teach him some new cool jutsu. Older boy sighed, and said that he doesn't know any Katon jutsu, but maybe he could teach him summoning. Konohamaru agreed immediately and said, that maybe he could use his grandfather's monkey summons. Then, they parted ways, and Naruto went straight to his home.

It was almost 6, when Naruto heard doorbell ring, no doubt Sasuke was behind the door. He opened the door and greeted his friend, the last Uchiha replied with trademark 'Hn'.

"Do you have the scroll Sasuke?" Naruto immediately asked, not even bothering himself to show some etiquette. Sasuke scowled, but nodded.

"You know usuratonkachi,"- dark haired boy started – "it's not how you should treat a guest. You could at least show some manners and ask if I want something to drink. But it's just like you." Sasuke scolded his friend. Naruto grumbled about 'arrogant pricks reprimanding him in his own house' but offered some tea to Sasuke, who agreed. After getting settled in living room, future Uchiha clan head took out two scrolls from his pocket. He opened the first one, and unsealed a Sake bottle and 2 saucers. Naruto looked at him with wide eyes.

"What are you looking at?" - asked Sasuke - "It's to make it easier for you to talk dobe, besides it's normal to drink Sake during reunions like this, and you're an adult."

"Yhm" was Naruto's intelligent response. Sasuke resisted the urge to facepalm, it was way beneath an elite like him to do so.

"What's in the second scroll?" The blonde asked.

"Geez, Naruto… It's the jutsu you wanted. I thought you'd know."

"I knew it, I just wanted to be sure." Naruto said a little embarrassed.

"Yea, right. Whatever." Sasuke replied not really caring about what Naruto said, while placing one saucer filled with Sake in front of his friend, and the other one in front of himself. They drank the contents of the saucers in one gulp, and Sasuke started questioning Naruto.

"So tell me, why did you ask me that question Naruto. What happened during your fight? I don't remember you having an eye transplant or something. Normally I wouldn't care, however you're acting different. You seem more calm and serious than usual. Not to mention I can feel some kind of power radiating from you. And I'm not talking about the fox. I want to know what is it." Sasuke said. His old teammate knew that he couldn't hide the truth anymore. So he sighed, and started to tell Sasuke what happened to him.

"During my fight with Madara, I managed to wound him severely. If he didn't something quick, he would die. So he decided to use some kinjutsu on me, to absorb my life force and heal himself. But in the end he failed... And I ended up absorbing rest of his life force, along with some of his power." Naruto said. Sasuke looked at him, and asked seriously:

"What kind of power did you absorb?"

Naruto didn't say a word. Instead he sighed again, and closed his eyes, channeling some chakra into them. When he reopened his eyes, his trademark cerulean blue orbs were gone, replaced with entire eyeballs colored metallic purple, black dot like pupils and unmistakable four black concentric rings forming ripple like pattern. The Rinnegan. Sasuke saw that Naruto felt rather uneasy showing him his eyes. It was understandable. The Uchiha was probably the first person to see Naruto's Rinnegan.

"I think I understand now." Sasuke said after few moments of silence. "I understand why you act so different. I know why you asked me about Itachi's eyes. You were simply afraid of using your Rinnegan, weren't you? You're the only person affraid of your own eyes. Scaredy-cat... You still can't think of them as your own." Naruto only nodded, while deactivating his eyes. Sasuke poured some sake into saucers, and they drank the mind numbing liquid again. Then he handed the jutsu scroll to Naruto.

"Here is your wind jutsu. Try not to hurt yourself too badly while learning it. And when you master your new eyes, we will fight. I want to fight you at your full power, usuratonkachi" He said with a smirk.

"You can count on it teme!" The youngest sage in history replied, his mood already changed back being cheerful. They drank rest of Sake, and Sasuke decided to go home. Naruto just sat in now empty living room, holding jutsu scroll, his friend has given him. He reluctantly opened the scroll. Inside he found not one, but four techniques: **Fūton: Shinkūjin (Wind Release: Vacuum Blade)**, **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)**, **Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere)**, **Fūton: Shinkū Renpa (Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)**. Description of those techniques was rather detailed, and Naruto knew that he'll be able to learn them with ease.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

It was the day, that Tsunade was going to name her successor. Naruto was sure that he was going to be the next Hokage. He waited with the rest of his friends in front of Hokage Tower for Tsunade to announce her decision. Finally after few minutes she appeared on a rooftop dressed in her Kage robes, and spoke to the people gathered in front of her.

"People of Konoha! We're gathered here today, because I decided to choose my successor today. As some of you may know, next year I'm going to retire from my job as The Hokage. The war left me to tired to do this job properly, and I'm going to trust future of this village to next generation." She announced loudly, using chakra to amplify her voice. Everyone present started to think, who'll become the next leader of their village. Naruto was loosing his patience, he was excited. He wanted to yell at 'his Baa-chan' to hurry up, but somehow restrained himself. Tsunade finally started to speak again.

"My successor is one of the strongest people in this village, trained by one of Densetsu no Sannin, as well as Hatake Kakashi. This person fought, and helped countless people during the war. To me, this person is like my own child." Now Naruto wanted to jump ant yell at top of his lungs. "My dream is becoming real! I'm really going to be Hokage dattebayo!" He thought to himself. However Tsunade's next words shocked him to the core.

"I announce my student, Haruno Sakura as the next Hokage!" She bellowed. Naruto was stunned.

"What?! S-sakura-chan will be the next Hokage? B-but why? Is it a joke or something? A nightmare perhaps? Why did Baa-chan chose Sakura-chan over me?" He thought to himself. He wanted to yell, to ask Tsunade why. He kept staring ahead as he began to unconsciously leak chakra into the air. The ground began to crack under him, and it began to get hard to breath.

His eyes switched to the rinnegan, feeling the required power he began to shape the chakra around him in a dome waiting to unleash it on-

He felt small arms wrap themselves around his waist, and when he turned around he found himself peering into pale lilac eyes that looked back at him with love.

Slowly Naruto stopped leaking chakra and let his eyes go back to their blue color before he started to cry into Hinata's shoulder.

"Why,Why WHY, WHY DID BAA-CHAN do this to me?"  
Hinata didn't know what to say, she just kept rubbing his back soothingly as Naruto eventually stopped crying.

"Thank you Hinata-chan for your help. I'm, I'm gonna go home right now, ill talk to you tomorrow." Naruto gave her a small smile  
Hinata gave him a big smile in return, and nodded her head.

Naruto immediately left the celebration, and looked back once, only to see the Hokage's hat being placed onto Sakura's head.

Another pang of betrayal made its way through his heart, but he put it off and kept walking.

_Wouldn't be the first time that the wrong person became Hokage_

Naruto looked around "Who said that?" But noone was near him, so he just played it off and kept walking to house.

Naruto went to sleep after crying for what seemed like hours.

The next day Naruto went out to training ground 7 and began to train.

He wanted to be alone, to vent his frustration. He felt betrayed by Tsunade. She knew that being Hokage was his dream, his ultimate goal in life.

When he was sure, that no one was around, he finally lost control over himself. Eyes flashed purple instantly, powered by his enormous chakra reserves. _"Tendō"_- Naruto whispered in his mind. He felt power building within him. After few seconds his eyes widened and repulsive force exploded from him with a supersonic boom. In matter of seconds the whole training area was destroyed beyond recognition, simply turned into crater.

Naruto just sat in the middle of the crater and lay back and started crying once again.

"_So long as there are winners there must also be losers Uzumaki Naruto."  
_"Who's there?"

He expanded his sensory range and did not feel anyone nearby, but he did feel 2 presences on their way to his current location.

All of a sudden a pink haired ninja appeared in the training ground

"Hi Sakura-chan." He greeted the pinkette. "What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"Tsunade-sama sent me here to tell you, to come to her office." She told him.

"Okay…" Was his reply. No questions, no loud yelling. It was clear to pink haired girl that Naruto wasn't allright, but she decided not to ask him any questions. After getting redressed in his new outfit, Naruto closed his apartment door, pocketed the key and followed Sakura to HokageTower silently. Few minutes later he was in front of Tsunade's desk.

When he hasn't greeted her, she decided to break the ice herself.

"Naruto, I'm sorry…" was all she could say before Naruto interrupted her.

"Cut the crap Baa-chan, just tell me what do you want from me." He replied in a cold tone.

"Listen Naruto. I couldn't nominate you as the Hokage. Even if I wanted. I know that you're very strong, and villagers really do like you now. But you lack a lot of knowledge. Knowledge that you'll probably never be able to learn. Without it you cannot hope to lead the village properly. Sakura on the other hand is a lot smarter than you, when it comes to politics and other stuff. She'll learn those things in no time." She said. Naruto looked at her with hurt expression on his face.

"Is this the reason? Because I'm not a bookworm like Sakura?!" He asked loudly, his temper rising. His eyes flashed purple again, Tsunade had to be careful of what she said, lest she risks Naruto unconsciously destroying the Hokage Tower.

"Let me ask you something Baa-chan. What are Hokage's advisors for?" Naruto asked her. Tsunade admitted in her mind, that Naruto DID have a point. She wanted to say something, but Naruto cut her off.

"Thank you for not having any faith in me Baa-chan. But as you said yourself: Hokage is a fool's job. If not look at what happened to my dad, the job led him to an early grave." He said, and started to turn towards office door, but Tsunade spoke to him again.

"Naruto, wait! I have something else to tell you."

_What could she possibly want now? Is it not enough that she already ruined your dreams?_

"What?" Was his irritated response.

"I decided to assign you as a Jōnin Sensei to a genin team. You'll find who'll be on your team after graduation exams." She said, thinking that Naruto will appreciate his new role.

"I refuse." He said.

"What?" She asked him, not really believing her ears.

"I said, that I refuse. I'm not going to teach some bunch of annoying brats. I'm rather crappy teacher if you ask me, so NO. Besides I already have some plans for the next few years, and while one of them does include raising children, they will be MINE, not someone elses.." He said.

"Naruto! You can't refuse an appointment from the Hokage!" Sakura scolded him.

_Why should you listen to the orders of weaklings?_

"Why should I listen to the orders of weaklings?" Sakura and Tsunade looked at Naruto in shocked at the way he addressed them. Before they could voice their thoughts Naruto kept talking "Madara destroyed the 5 kage's in a fight, who are supposed to be the strongest Shinobi's currently alive, and I defeated him by myself?"

Sakura and Tsunade couldn't help but look at sadly at Naruto, it was only 3 hours after the announcement and already Naruto was turning into a bitter man. Tsunade was saddened to know that because of her selfish reasons she might have just broken Naruto.


End file.
